Paw 

A^'C  a 


The  Black  Pioneer 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  BY 

JEAN  KENYON  MACKENZIE 


The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 

of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


J 


These  appreciations  of  Bekali  Mendom  are  re¬ 
printed  from 

The  Drum  Call 

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of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.,  a 
publication  printed  on  the  Halsey  Memorial  Press 
at  Elat,  Cameroun. 


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'Pam 

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CONTENTS 

Introduction . Jean  K.  Mackenzie 

Bekali  the  Man . Frank  0.  Emerson 

Bekali,  a  Servant  of  the  Lord . Albert  I.  Good 

Bekali  the  Soul-Winner . Melvin  Fraser 

Notes  for  Remembrance 


INTRODUCTION 

Jean  Kenyon  Mackenzie 

TI/TANY  years  ago,  on  the  trails  of  an  African  forest, 
Bekali  Mendom  carried  an  end  of  my  hammock 
pole  throughout  the  hours  of  a  moonlit  night.  We 
were  to  make  twenty  miles  before  dawn  and  I  was 
short  one  carrier.  Three  hammock  carriers  will  never 
make  two  relays  of  two,  and  that  is  a  fact  you  will 
learn  on  a  journey  in  a  forest.  There  will  be  three 
carriers  to  tell  you  as  much  for  as  long  as  you  will 
listen. 

On  this  night,  for  all  there  w*as  a  shortage  of  one 
carrier,  I  travelled  in  a  great  and  unnatural  peace. 
There  was  a  relay  for  the  after  end  of  the  hammock — 
invisible  men  shifted  the  pole  from  time  to  time ;  but 
always  the  same  shoulder  carried  the  forward  end  of 
the  pole.  That  sturdy  little  back,  walking  away  and 
away  and  away  with  my  feet  all  night  long,  was  the 
hack  of  Bekali  Mendom,  whose  quality  first  impressed 
me  then.  And  in  the  dawn,  when  his  white  woman 
complained  bitterly,  being  weary,  he  it  was  who  for¬ 
aged  and  fed  her,  looking  at  her  kindly  with  his  ugly, 
tender,  beautiful,  never-to-be-forgotten  face. 

At  that  time  Bekali  was  a  servant  of  God,  but 
obscure  as  yet,  carrying  the  candle  of  his  spirit  in 
the  windless  calm  that  was  ever  a  kind  of  weather 
about  him.  The  work  among  the  Ngumba  people 
was  new,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Tribe 
of  God  among  them.  His  “heart  had  been  turned,” 


he  told  me,  by  the  reading  of  a  black  man  from  that 
thing  of  the  white  man — “a  book.”  And  the  saying 
he  read  was  like  this — ‘‘Come  unto  Me  all  that  feel 
troubled  and  are  wearied  of  burdens  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.”  These  words,  the  accomplished  speaker 
had  claimed,  were  words  from  God,  and  were  spoken 
of  the  burdens  of  the  heart  and  not  of  the  things  of 
the  body.  Bekali,  who  was  carrying  a  load  of  salt 
at  the  time,  understood  that  he  had  been  addressed 
as  a  man  and  not  as  a  carrier,  and  he  sought  from  that 
hour  the  things  of  God. 

Dr.  Lehman  is  that  member  of  the  West  Africa 
Mission  who  was  the  pioneer  among  the  Ngumba,  and 
he  was  the  first  of  us  to  know  Bekali  Mendom.  Anna 
Lehman,  if  she  keeps  her  husband ’s  letters  of  the  early 
part  of  the  century,  will  surely  find  the  figure  of 
Bekali  wandering  through  them.  Already,  in  Dr. 
Halsey’s  letters  of  1904,  Bekali  is  a  distinguished  fig¬ 
ure.  He  is,  like  Dr.  Halsey  himself,  about  his  Father’s 
business — on  journeys.  Like  Dr.  Halsey  he  keeps 
notes.  Bekali ’s  notebook  was  the  handle  of  his  tooth¬ 
brush,  for  like  all  decent  forest  folk  he  had  a  sizable 
twig  with  a  frayed  end — that  end  was  his  toothbrush. 
And  the  length  of  the  twig  was  his  tally,  where  he 
kept  the  score  of  all  those  men  and  women,  dwellers 
in  strange  villages,  who  heard  gladly  of  the  things  of 
God.  When  Dr.  Halsey  met  Bekali  there  were  over 
two  hundred  nicks  on  the  tally  twig;  that  was  the 
record  of  one  of  his  initial  journeys. 

The  Lehmans  remember,  and  so  do  I,  a  night  in 
1904,  and  there  is  Bekali  at  the  door  of  our  little 
bark  cabin  in  the  mission  clearing.  He  carries  a 
lantern.  He  is  inviting  the  white  people  to  come  with 
him  into  the  house  of  God,  where  he  will  give  thanks 

8 


with  them  because  he  has  got  him  a  wife.  Somewhere 
among  my  notes  I  have  the  musty  list  of  the  goods 
paid  for  Luanga — the  guns  and  the  sheep  and  the 
dogs  and  the  pieces  of  iron  and  the  cutlasses  and  the 
many  more  things,  that  were  lying  out  under  the 
stars  in  Luanga ’s  brother’s  town,  on  the  night  when 
we  followed  Bekali’s  lantern.  There  is  the  little 
handful  of  us — black  and  white — who  are  the  first 
Christians  in  that  Ngumba  forest.  And  there,  by 
that  golden  light,  is  Bekali  reading — painfully  and 
incredibly  reading — from  the  Word  of  God.  And  now 
he  is  praying  with  what  Scotch  people  call  “liberty.” 
And  it  is  a  wedding  party,  though  Luanga  is  not 
there.  In  the  absence  of  precedent  Bekali  has  bidden 
the  bride  stay  at  home. 

How  far  down  the  trail  of  the  years  is  that  little 
clearing  in  the  forest !  How  clear  it  shines  with  its 
diverting  and  touching  and  hopeful  quality,  and  upon 
how  many  ways  since  then  has  Bekali’s  lantern  trav¬ 
elled  !  How  many  people  has  he  summoned  to  the 
house  of  God  !  Until  at  last,  upon  an  ultimate  journey 
he  and  his  light  have  gone  away,  leaving  us  to  cele¬ 
brate  his  great  achievement  of  contagious  goodness, 
and  to  say  of  him,  born  in  the  very  slum  and  gutter 
of  the  round  world,— that  here  was  one  who  like 
Jesus,  went  about  doing  good. 

For  myself  I  will  say  that  having  gone  out  into 
the  wilderness  to  see  reeds  shaken  by  the  wind,  I  found 
a  staff  that  was  shaped  like  a  true  shepherd’s  crook, 
and  it  was  warm  from  the  use  of  a  Divine  Hand. 


9 


Bekali.,  the  Man 

Frank  0.  Emerson 


\  T  our  last  annual  meeting  a  resolution  was  passed 
in  honor  and  loving  memory  of  the  late  Bekali 
Mendom.  It  was  the  only  way  in  which  we  could  ex¬ 
press  ourselves  since  those  who  did  not  know  the  man 
would  not  understand  the  sincerity  and  high  apprecia¬ 
tion  felt  if  we  just  said  “Bekali.”  Nevertheless  he 
was  regarded  because  he  was  Bekali,  not  because  he 
had  been  ordained.  And  he  was  not  ordained  to  the 
Gospel  ministry  because  he  was  learned  or  because 
he  was  highly  cultured  as  judged  by  the  elite.  It  was 
all  because  he  was  Bekali — Bekali  saved  by  the  grace 
of  God  and  filled  by  His  Spirit. 

A  description  of  Bekali  in  person  would  never 
suggest  the  real  man.  Even  to  contemplate  his  ap¬ 
pearance  and  his  personal  habits  one  realizes  that  in 
an  unusual  degree  these  were  not  the  man.  A  stran¬ 
ger  might  easily  pass  him  without  notice.  If  pre¬ 
occupied  you  might  not  quickly  detect  the  marks  of  a 
superior  personality  even  if  he  were  presented  or 
pointed  out.  He  bore  the  appearance  of  a  very  com¬ 
mon  individual.  Such  indeed  he  was  in  all  external 
ways,  such  surely  he  considered  himself  to  be.  He 

11 


was  short  of  stature  and  absolutely  without  ostentation 
in  bearing.  His  nose  was  typically  negroid,  short  and 
broad  and  flat,  but  withal  rather  small.  His  mouth 
and  teeth  were  not  conspicuous  in  any  way  save  for 
the  smile  which  he  nearly  always  wore.  His  smile  was 
rather  too  open  for  the  best  impression  on  a  stranger. 
His  head  was  prematurely  bald  and  little  tufts  of  wool 
stood  out  above  each  ear  when  his  head  had  not  been 
recently  shaved.  In  later  years  when  he  wore  spec¬ 
tacles  much  of  the  time,  he  might  have  posed  very 
naturally  as  Uncle  Remus. 

Having  known  him  for  many  years,  I  believe  it 
could  be  said  of  him  as  some  of  the  older  Bulu  occa¬ 
sionally  say  of  themselves,  that  “he  never  stuck  his 
legs  into  trousers.”  He  wore  with  common  grace  the 
“cloth”  two  yards  square.  In  addition  to  this,  if 
addition  there  were,  he  at  times  wore  a  singlet,  a 
poor  pocketless  thing,  and  at  times  a  shirt  with  one 
pocket,  but  what  he  enjoyed  most  was  a  coat,  one 
that  had  been  white  and  that  still  was  clean  but  dis¬ 
colored  from  practical  use  and  often  frayed  at  sleeves 
and  neck,  and  certainly  at  the  tops  of  pockets.  For 
in  these  pockets  was  his  delight. 

No  small  boy  ever  carried  richer  treasure  in  his 
pockets  than  did  Bekali,  but  his  were  of  a  peculiar 
type.  His  “Bia  bi  Bulu”  (Hymns  in  Bulu)  was  there 
and  hfs  Bulu  Gospels.  A  pencil  of  some  dimensions 
was  always  there,  and  if  not  a  pad  then  bits  of  paper. 
Bekali  frequently  made  notes.  But  if  he  forgot  what 
he  had  noted  it  was  like  hunting  in  the  waste  paper 
basket  for  it.  Happily  he  rarely  needed  to  refer  to  his 
notes.  People  and  their  affairs  were  too  real  for  him 
to  forget  them  readily.  Bekali  was  equipped  with 
pencil  and  paper  that  he  might  always  be  ready  to 

12 


send  notes  to  his  many  missionary  parents  and 
brethren  throughout  South  Cameroun.  Those  little 
letters  were  in  a  simple,  grand  way  apostolic.  I  have 
some  of  them  still,  written  to  “His  Father  who  begat 
him  again  in  the  Lord,  ’  ’  and  ‘  ‘  On  whose  breast  he  was 
nurtured  in  the  spirit,”  and  yet  so  full  of  the  real 
and  simple  things  of  life. 

And  just  as  I  have  unconsciously  done  here,  one 
always  forgot  the  commonness  of  the  clay  owing  to 
the  beauty  of  the  spiritual  vessel  that  the  Lord  had 
made  of  it.  His  queer  little  nose  was  forgotten.  The 
“Uncle  Remus”  head  became  patriarchal,  his  mouth 
was  not  just  a  perpetual  smile.  It  softened  at  times 
into  lines  of  pathos  and  sobriety,  but  not  for  long — 
there  was  too  much  of  hope  and  joy  for  that.  And  his 
eyes  were  keen  and  sympathetic  and  at  times  rather 
piercing.  Bekali  loved  and  revered  the  white  people 
who  had  “brought  the  light”  but  he  did  not  fear  them 
abjectly  even  though  he  trusted  them  implicitly. 

Bekali  was  not  systematic  by  nature.  Anything  of 
this  which  he  possessed  he  gained  through  painful 
effort  and  after  many  failures.  The  queer  jumble  that 
he  once  allowed  to  come  into  the  hands  of  Presbytery 
as  a  sample  of  his  ability  to  record  session  minutes 
previous  to  his  ordination  was  typical  of  his  natural 
helplessness  in  matters  passing  beyond  his  personal 
control.  He  was  growing  and  improving  along  these 
lines  to  the  last. 

A  person  was  a  person  to  Bekali.  His  love  often 
overbalanced  his  judgment.  His  sympathy  protected 
many  from  a  too  rigid  system  of  names  and  dates 
and  cards. 

I  suppose  he  never  reached  the  point  where  he 
did  not  at  times  plead  for  exceptions.  Rebuke  and 

13 


counsel  were  needed  and  experience  taught  him  that 
a  reasonable  degree  of  caution  was  always  wise.  But 
Bekali  gave  no  consideration  to  the  hypocrite  and  the 
evil  doer,  save  to  plead  with  them  that  they  leave  their 
evil  ways  and  accept  the  Saviour.  There  were  in¬ 
stances  when  rolls  and  names  and  cards  all  testified  to 
the  merits  of  an  individual  and  when  the  poor  mis¬ 
sionary  would  have  accepted  a  culprit  in  ignorance  of 
his  real  personality  had  not  Bekali,  with  saddened  face 
and  steady  eye,  portrayed  the  real  man  in  terms  that 
perhaps  resulted  in  the  removal  of  the  name  of  a 
hypocrite  from  the  rolls. 

Bekali  never  despised  work.  Just  one  instance 
may  serve  from  many  others  which  might  be  given. 
When  he  returned  from  Presbytery  where  he  had 
been  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel  at  the  close  of  his 
theological  course,  he  carried  to  Lolodorf  on  his  back 
a  tin  of  kerosene  for  the  Mission  and  accepted  with 
no  thought  of  special  consideration  the  few  cents 
due  a  carrier  for  carrying  forty-odd  pounds  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  seventy  miles. 

His  cash  balance  would  at  times  increase  alarm¬ 
ingly.  Then,  like  the  sock,  it  would  suddenly  shrink, 
for  someone  of  hip  kin  or  near  associates  hvould 
marry  a  wife  and  all  he  needed  was  goods.  Bekali 
could  scarcely  resist  such  appeals.  The  last  several 
times  that  I  saw  him  at  Lam  the  number  of  the 
halt  and  maimed  that  were  attaching  themselves  to 
him  was  noticeable.  In  these  and  other  similar  ways 
he  disposed  of  his  income.  He  never  introduced  the 
question  of  wage.  Once,  he  deliberately  left  a  group 
of  his  associates  who  were  advocating  an  increase  in 
salary,  thus  protesting  against  their  contention. 

People  would  come  in  large  numbers  to  hear  Bekali 

14 


speak,  and  those  who  came  would  go  away  satisfied, 
for  they  had  heard  the  “good  words.”  I  do  not 
recall  a  single  sermon  of  Bekali’s  that  impressed  me 
as  a  sermon.  He  himself  impressed  me,  things  that 
he  said  impressed  me.  He  spoke  from  his  own  per¬ 
sonality,  burning  at  heart  with  the  love  of  God.  I 
am  sure  his  sermons  were  not  always  outlined.  If 
they  had  been  the  outline  was  doubtless  in  his  coat 
pocket.  He  did  not  number  his  heads,  one  could 
believe  at  times  that  he  was  unmindful  of  his  text. 
Yet  he  did  not  harangue,  his  sermons  were  never 
long.  They  were  such  talks  as  I  have  heard  pastors 
at  home  give  who  were  so  full  of  their  parish  that 
their  pulpit  was  incidental,  who  lived  and  spoke  in 
the  Spirit,  not  in  an  unknown  tongue. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  last  words  Bekali  spoke 
to  me,  though  I  am  not  given  to  remembering  last 
words.  It  was  so  natural,  coming  from  him  as  it  did, 
that  it  merely  took  its  place  in  my  mind  as  one  of  the 
warm  hearted  words  he  was  so  given  to  uttering.  I 
was  riding  away  on  my  bicycle  after  the  close  of  the 
last  meeting  of  Presbytery  which  he  attended.  He 
had  not  realized  that  I  was  leaving  that  day,  and  came 
running  to  the  path  to  exchange  parting  words.  ‘  ‘  So,  ’  ’ 
he  said,  “we  have  been  here  nearly  two  weeks  and 
so  busy  that  we  have  scarcely  visited  at  all.”  And 
with  a  sigh  beneath  a  radiant  smile  he  said,  “Some 
day  we  shall  meet  ‘up  there’  where  we  can  talk  to 
each  other  as  long  as  we  please  and  no  one  will 
disturb  us.”  Months  had  passed  when  in  a  most  un¬ 
expected  quarter  of  my  field  the  question  was  whis¬ 
pered,  “Is  it  true  that  Bekali  is  dead?”  And  while 

15 


I  did  not  then  believe  it,  it  was  true.  Not  without 
dimmed  vision  did  I  realize  that  it  would  be  only  ‘  ‘  up 
there  ’  ’  that  I  should  ever  again  visit  with  Bekali.  The 
hush  that  seemed  to  prevail  even  to  the  remote  cor¬ 
ners  of  our  Mission  at  the  news  of  his  death  is  indica¬ 
tion  of  the  place  he  held  in  the  hearts  of  his  fellows. 

I  knew  nothing  of  the  facts  attending  his  illness 
and  death  until  weeks  afterward.  And  to  me  his 
going  is  as  a  translation.  There  is  no  incongruity  in 
Bekali ’s  mingling  with  the  saints  and  the  redeemed 
of  the  ages.  He  will  just  go  on  knowing  his  Saviour 
better,  and  enjoying  his  fellows  more,  and  bringing 
surprise  to  all  about  him  that  a  heart  that  lived  in 
clay  and  was  once  in  such  darkness  can  be  so  rich 
in  spirituality  and  so  full  of  faith  and  love. 


16 


Bekali,  a  Servant  of  the  Lord 

Albert  I.  Good 

SPHERE  are  certain  characters  that  because  of  in- 

trinsic  worth  stand  out  above  all  others.  Such  a 
one  was  Bekali  Mendom.  Twenty-five  years  ago  he 
wras  an  unknown  black  man  among  the  thousands  of 
the  Ngumba  tribe ;  today  he  is  honored  by  the  thou¬ 
sands  who  touched  his  life,  and  were  in  turn  touched 
by  the  Spirit  that  dwelt  therein.  Mention  his  name, 
and  anyone  who  ever  knew  him  will  kindle  into 
instant  response,  as  the  memory  calls  up  the  image 
of  the  little  man  who  was  always  so  good,  so  sym¬ 
pathetic,  so  humble,  and  so  earnest  in  the  work  of 
his  Master. 

It  is  easy  to  eulogize  after  a  man  is  dead,  but 
Bekali  was  well  spoken  of  long  before.  Many  a  man 
has  been  extravagantly  praised  by  his  well-wishers, 
but  no  words  of  his  friends  can  be  extravagant  in 
speaking  of  Bekali ’s  humility,  love  of  his  Lord,  and 
untiring  labors.  His  was  a  rare  spirit. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  know  this  man  for  a  little 
more  than  ten  years,  and  to  be  closely  associated 
with  him  in  work  for  much  of  that  time. 

Of  his  early  life  I  know  only  from  report.  But  he 
evidently  was  always  in  earnest  from  the  time  when 
he  was  brought  to  Christ.  Although  a  man  grown,  he 
learned  to  read  very  soon,  and  availed  himself  of  a 
little  education,  though  not  much.  No  weakness  or 
backsliding  ever  manifested  itself  in  his  Christian  life 
as  is  the  case  with  many  Africans  in  the  early  years 

17 


of  their  Christian  experience.  His  was  true  faith,  very- 
early  manifested  in  a  desire  to  lead  others  to  Christ, 
which  before  many  years  eventuated  in  the  desire  to 
study  for  the  ministry. 

There  were  three  Ngumba  men  who  left  their 
country  and  went  over  to  Elat  in  the  Bulu  country  to 
start  their  studies  for  the  ministry  under  that  leader 
of  men,  the  Rev.  William  M.  Dager,  the  pastor  of  the 
Elat  church  in  the  days  of  its  phenomenal  growth, 
and  the  teacher  of  the  first  theological  students  in  the 
Bulu  interior.  Because  of  the  pressure  of  the  grow¬ 
ing  church,  their  teacher  was  often  interrupted  in  his 
teaching,  and  their  instruction  was  spread  over  four 
or  five  years.  Bekali  was  too  old  to  be  quick  of 
thought,  but  made  up  by  earnest  study  for  what  he 
lacked  of  versatile  mentality,  and  finished  his  course 
creditably  with  the  rest. 

Here  during  his  theological  training  were  evi¬ 
denced  those  traits  which  were  to  stand  out  so  prom¬ 
inently  in  his  later  years — tirelessness  in  service,  a 
close  communion  with  God,  a  great  power  in  winning 
souls,  and  the  first  indications  of  what  later  devel¬ 
oped  into  that  rarest  African  trait,  the  capstone  of 
all,  a  great  humility  of  soul. 

He  was  always  a  man  of  peace.  One  of  his  school¬ 
mates  tells  how,  soon  after  they  went  over  to  Elat, 
they  were  given  some  meat  for  the  three  of  them, 
always  sought  after  by  the  natives,  as  meat  is  pre¬ 
vailingly  absent  in  their  diet,  and  greatly  craved. 
There  was  danger  of  some  feeling  in  the  division,  so 
Bekali  divided  it  into  three  as  nearly  equal  parts  as 
possible  and  made  the  others  take  their  portions 
first,  while  he  took  the  portion  that  was  left. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  his  course,  Mr.  Dager 

18 


was  commissioned  by  the  Mission  to  make  a  long 
exploratory  journey  across  southern  Cameroun  to  the 
far  eastern  border,  a  journey  of  a  couple  of  months 
or  more.  He  took  some  of  his  theological  students 
with  him,  and  none  were  so  constantly  preaching 
anywhere  and  everywhere,  to  many  or  few  as  Bekali. 
He  was  never  too  tired  to  speak  for  his  Master.  Once 
a  side  trip  was  to  be  made  of  forty  miles  to  a  special 
town  that  Mr.  Dager  wished  to  see.  It  would  be  a  hard 
trip  there  and  back  with  a  very  short  stay  there,  and 
to  be  done  in  one  day.  Bekali  was  the  one  who  vol¬ 
unteered  to  go  with  him. 

About  1911  there  was  held  at  Elat  a  conference 
for  Christian  workers  from  all  over  the  Mission.  As 
sometimes  happens,  a  few  dissatisfied  ones  got  to¬ 
gether  and  talked  the  matter  of  the  wages  they  were 
receiving  for  their  work.  The  dissatisfaction  spread, 
until  half  of  the  delegates  were  staying  away  from 
the  meetings  of  the  conference  to  discuss  their  sup¬ 
posed  grievance.  The  missionaries  were  for  the 
moment  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  Mr.  Dager  had  occa¬ 
sion  to  want  Bekali  for  something  and  searched  for 
him  in  the  big  church,  where  he  had  been  last  seen. 
Not  seeing  him  at  first  in  the  deserted  auditorium,  he 
walked  up  to  the  front  where  a  space  was  walled  off. 
Here  he  found  his  man,  on  his  knees,  pouring  out  his 
heart  in  prayer  that  God  would  turn  the  hearts  of  the 
people  to  Himself  and  His  true  service.  Without  dis¬ 
turbing  him  Mr.  Dager  returned  to  the  missionaries 
with  the  word  that  Bekali  was  doing  what  they  should 
be  doing  in  such  a  crisis — praying.  That  day  the 
backbone  of  opposition  began  to  weaken,  and  the  Con¬ 
ference  regained  much  of  its  strength.  Bekali  led  us 
all  to  the  true  way  of  meeting  difficulty. 

19 


Those  who  knew  him  there  speak  much  of  his 
constant  searching  out  of  men,  women,  and  children 
to  speak  to  them  about  Christ.  He  early  learned  the 
secret  of  personal  work  with  the  individual,  and  was 
ever  calling  some  one  person  aside  for  a  few  moments’ 
talk.  It  mattered  not  to  him  that  they  were  not  of 
his  tribe  or  language,  or  that  he  was  a  stranger  to 
them ;  they  were  souls  to  be  saved,  and  many  date 
their  first  love  from  such  conversations  as  those.  He 
worked  also  among  the  young,  and  would  system¬ 
atically  interview  every  boy  in  a  school  dormitory 
and  have  a  talk  alone  with  him  as  opportunity  offered, 
or  more  often  as  he  would  make  the  opportunity. 
Thus  he  began  his  work  when  others  thought  they 
were  still  in  preparation. 

While  he  was  stationed  at  Lam,  he  had  need  of 
going  over  to  Efulen  Station  for  an  operation  under 
Dr.  Weber.  The  latter  tells  of  his  work  while  there. 
When  the  operation  was  over,  and  the  doctor  wanted 
to  know  whether  he  wanted  a  little  private  place 
alone  or  whether  he  would  be  in  the  ward  with  other 
cases,  Bekali  answered  at  once,  “Put  me  where  there 
are  others.”  Knowing  Bekali,  the  doctor  placed  him 
on  a  bed  in  the  midst  of  the  toughest  old  characters 
he  had  in  the  hospital.  While  he  was  recovering  from 
his  operation  he  led  nearly  every  man  about  his  bed 
to  Christ.  Such  was  the  power  and  spirit  of  the  man. 

His  studies  over,  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
church  at  Lam,  on  the  main  road  between  Lolodorf 
and  Kribi,  the  seaport.  Here  he  settled  down  to  his 
lifework.  He  was  mild  in  manner  and  soft  of  speech, 
not  manly  traits  according  to  native  thought,  yet  he 
had  a  wonderful  influence  over  mature  men,  and  the 
Lam  Church  has  a  larger  proportion  of  grown  men  in 

20 


its  membership  than  almost  any  other  church  in  this 
country.  This  was  a  hard  field  in  many  ways,  for  the 
Ngumba  are  more  conservative,  less  easily  led  than 
the  Bulu,  and  they  were  slower  to  take  the  Gospel. 
The  Church  still  has  the  smallest  membership  of  the 
three  under  the  care  of  Lolodorf,  but  it  is  without 
question  the  most  stable  church  of  all,  and  contains 
the  strongest  elements  of  steadfastness.  Bekali  taught 
them  how  truly  to  love  the  Lord.  He  also  taught 
them  how  to  give  by  precept  and  example,  and  this 
smallest  church  is  one  of  the  largest  givers. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  white  pastor  who  had 
the  oversight  of  the  Lam  Church  wished  to  stress 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  among  the  fifteen  or 
more  native  workers  employed  in  the  district.  They 
were  to  keep  track  of  the  number  of  meetings  they 
held  in  a  month,  a  meeting  consisting  of  a  group  of 
five  persons  or  more,  not  counting  Sunday  services 
or  the  daily  morning  prayers.  They  thought  they 
were  doing  well  when  they  reported  thirty  or  forty 
meetings  in  the  month,  with  the  highest  man  around 
sixty  or  seventy.  Then  Bekali,  whose  work  had  been 
more  of  oversight  and  counsel  for  the  district  rather 
than  house-to-house  preaching,  determined  to  show 
his  men  how  it  should  and  could  be  done.  The  first 
month  he  turned  in  a  total  of  250  meetings.  I  remon¬ 
strated  with  him,  “Why  Bekali,  you  don’t  mean  250, 
you  mean  twenty-five,”  for  they  often  have  trouble 
writing  figures  correctly.  I  remember  his  quiet  smile, 
when  he  insisted  that  it  really  was  250  meetings  in  the 
month.  And  then  to  prove  it,  he  raised  it  the  next 
month  to  three  hundred  and  kept  it  near  there  for 
four  or  five  months.  Think  of  the  physical  strain  alone 
of  holding  a  daily  average  of  ten  group  meetings  every 

21 


day,  and  keeping  it  up  for  months !  In  a  short  time  he 
shamed  the  weakest  worker  into  holding  sixty  to  sev¬ 
enty  meetings  a  month,  while  his  nearest  competitor 
rose  to  150,  but  none  could  come  near  him.  During 
the  height  of  this  compaign,  those  fifteen  men  held  be¬ 
tween  twelve  and  thirteen  hundred  meetings  of  five 
persons  or  more  in  a  month,  and  the  total  of  those 
hearing  the  Word  of  God  ran  into  many  thousands. 
So  Bekali  led  his  people  in  everything  spiritual. 

After  several  years  out  of  school,  years  of  experi¬ 
ence  and  testing,  Bekali  was  licensed  by  the  Presby¬ 
tery.  Here  it  seemed  he  would  stay,  the  farthest 
to  which  he  could  aspire.  There  is  a  hard  and  fast 
rule  of  the  Presbytery  that  no  candidate  for  the  Gos¬ 
pel  ministry  may  be  ordained  unless  in  addition  to  his 
early  general  schooling  and  his  theological  course,  he 
possess  a  working  knowledge  of  some  European  lan¬ 
guage.  This  was  English  in  the  earlier  days  of  the 
Mission,  German  during  the  many  years  when  the  Col¬ 
ony  was  German,  and  since  the  war,  French.  Bekali 
had  no  European  language,  as  he  was  too  old  to  take 
up  German.  So  it  seemed  his  way  was  closed.  But 
at  last,  with  the  passage  of  years,  with  his  wonderful 
record  of  service,  with  his  power  as  a  soul-winner  ever 
increasing,  with  the  development  of  a  wonderful 
Christian  humility,  with  a  character  so  openly  Chris¬ 
tian  that  no  missionary  travelling  past  Lam,  no  matter 
how  urgent  his  errand,  but  stopped  for  the  spiritual 
uplift  of  just  meeting  this  man  of  God,  with  all  this, 
the  Presbyterial  rule  was  for  once  over-ruled,  and  by 
sheer  worth  of  Christian  character  and  service  Bekali 
became  Rev.  Bekali  Mendom.  He  was  the  first  man 
and  up  to  the  present  time  the  only  man  of  his  tribe 
to  attain  to  this  sacred  office,  and  the  second  man 

22 


in  all  the  Cameroun  interior  to  be  ordained.  He  now 
commanded  more  respect  from  the  natives  as  they 
saw  one  of  their  own  number  on  an  equality  with 
the  white  minister  in  the  dispensing  of  the  sacred 
elements  of  the  Communion,  or  laying  on  hands  in 
the  rites  of  Baptism.  Now  his  power  increased.  He 
developed  in  executive  ability,  and  in  the  orderly 
keeping  of  Session  records.  But  his  elevation  to  a 
position  of  authority  and  the  respect  now  accorded 
him  never  affected  the  beautiful  child-like  spirit  of 
the  man.  At  first  he  was  kept  under  the  close  touch 
and  supervision  of  the  white  minister  in  charge  and 
not  given  full  power  even  though  he  was  ordained. 
Yet  not  only  did  he  not  chafe  under  the  supervision 
and  direction,  he  craved  it,  he  asked  for  it.  He  always 
wanted  to  be  taught  by  those  whom  he  looked  on  as 
his  spiritual  fathers. 

Who  has  ever  received  a  letter  from  Bekali,  and 
he  was  a  great  writer  of  little  letters,  but  knows  the 
characteristic  style  by  which  he  began,  “0  my  good 
father,  I  always  thank  God  for  sending  you  to  teach 
us  the  way  of  salvation,  and  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord,  whose  servant  I  am”  and  then  he  would  go  on 
to  write  his  particular  message.  These  letters  were 
so  characteristic,  so  grateful,  so  full  of  the  spirit  of 
love  and  fellowship,  so  humble  in  tone.  Those  of  us 
who  oftenest  received  them  knew  the  first  third  of 
every  letter  by  heart  without  reading,  but  it  was  Be¬ 
kali ’s  way  of  ever  honoring  his  Master,  and  we  hon¬ 
ored  him  for  it. 

He  had  his  little  peculiarities,  too.  In  later  years 
his  salary  would  easily  have  warranted  the  purchase 
of  a  bicycle  to  help  him  over  the  interminable  miles 

23 


he  was  always  walking,  but  he  refused  to  buy  one,  as 
he  said,  “For  fear  he  would  pass  someone  by  to  whom 
he  should  speak.”  He  would  never  wear  trousers, 
but  always  a  good  long  loin-cloth,  nor  would  he  touch 
shoes,  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  every  native.  No,  these 
things  were  all  right  for  others,  but  he  would  not 
follow  the  white  man  in  this.  He  was  also  one  of  those 
very,  very  rare  natives  who  were  not  affected  by 
money. 

In  December,  1921,  to  the  consternation  and  sor¬ 
row  of  his  congregation  at  Lam,  he  was  transferred 
to  the  Mvele  country  to  take  charge  of  the  compara¬ 
tively  newly-organized  and  struggling  church  of  Man- 
gele.  Here  he  spent  the  last  six  months  of  his  life. 
The  big  chief  of  the  whole  country  bitterly  hated  the 
Church  and  Christianity;  in  a  short  time  he  was 
sending  Bekali  presents  of  chickens  and  food  and 
inviting  him  to  come  to  his  town.  No  one  could  resist 
Bekali ’s  friendly  spirit.  Here  he  repeated  his  pro¬ 
gram  of  intensive  work,  only,  if  anything,  harder  than 
ever.  He  was  always  away  travelling  over  his  district, 
encouraging  the  native  workers,  working  for  souls 
with  all  the  energy  of  soul  and  body.  They  tell  that 
he  crossed  the  dangerous  Nlong  River  four  times  in 
one  day  seeking  someone.  He  was  gaining  the  good¬ 
will  of  all  the  chiefs,  people  were  beginning  to  confess 
in  considerable  numbers,  the  whole  work  was  feeling 
the  impetus  of  his  strong  spirit,  when  disease  seized  him. 

A  large  Communion  service  was  just  over.  The 
white  pastor  had  returned  to  his  Station,  when  Bekali 
was  suddenly  seized  with  strangulation  of  a  hernia. 
All  praise  to  three  men  who  so  faithfully  carried  him 
in  a  hammock  forty  miles  across  country  through 
the  bush  over  one  of  the  worst  roads  in  all  this  country 

24 


to  Dr.  Lehman,  who  knew  and  loved  him.  Word  came 
before  he  arrived  that  he  was  coming,  all  was  pre¬ 
pared,  and  he  was  operated  on  at  once.  The  operation 
seemed  a  success,  but  he  never  rallied  from  the  shock 
and  the  intense  pain  he  had  had  to  undergo.  His 
body,  besides,  was  worn  out  and  thin  with  his  intense 
labors.  He  lingered  for  four  days,  but  God’s  will 
was  otherwise,  and  he  passed  away  October  12,  1922, 
quietly  and  in  confident  faith.  His  last  words  to  me, 
a  very  few  hours  before  he  left  us,  were  full  of  faith. 
He  led  in  a  short  prayer,  and  at  the  close  of  it  he 
turned  to  me,  knowing  he  was  going,  and  speaking 
with  some  difficulty  said,  “May  God  be  with  you. 

.  .  .  He  is  more  .  .  .  than  all  the  world 

.  .  .  I  am  sure  of  it.”  In  this  faith,  he  went  to 

his  reward. 

During  the  one  day  in  which  his  body  lay  with 
us,  for  in  the  tropics  interment  can  wait  no  longer, 
it  was  visited  by  hundreds  of  his  friends.  The  body 
was  laid  in  the  big  palaver-house,  and  the  day  was 
really  one  continuous  prayer  meeting ;  with  song, 
prayer,  and  remarks  from  those  who  knew  and  loved 
him.  In  the  afternoon  the  funeral  service  was  held 
in  the  Lolodorf  church  with  1200  persons  present,  a 
very  large  attendance  for  such  short  notice. 

On  the  Sunday  following,  a  Memorial  Service  was 
held  in  the  church,  attended  by  over  1400  persons, 
led  entirely  by  native  speakers  who  brought  out  in 
short  speeches  the  salient  features  of  his  life.  At  the 
close  of  the  service  the  pastor  was  led  to  ask  all  those 
present  who  had  been  led  to  Christ  by  Bekali  to  rise, 
and  to  every  one’s  astonishment,  in  a  place  where 
he  had  never  been  resident  as  a  Christian  worker, 
but  only  as  a  passer-by,  seventy-six  persons  arose  to 

25 


testify  to  the  soul-winning  of  this  man.  And  they 
were  strong  people  too,  elders  of  the  church,  native 
workers,  leading  men  and  women,  some  young  boys, 
showing  how  universal  was  his  appeal.  Four  persons 
confessed  Christ  at  the  close  of  this  Memorial  Service, 
and  we  believe  his  work  is  still  going  on  in  the  hearts 
of  many.  Had  this  service  been  held  at  Lam,  where 
he  sent  years,  those  standing  would  have  been  num¬ 
bered  by  the  hundred.  It  is  probably  no  slightest 
exaggeration  to  estimate  that  during  his  life-time,  he 
was  instrumental  through  his  own  unaided  efforts, 
in  the  conversion  of  not  less  than  a  thousand  persons, 
and  probably  many  more. 

No  white  missionary  in  Cameroun  will  ever  have 
stars  in  his  crown  to  compare  with  the  number  shining 
in  the  crown  of  this  black  man,  once  unknown,  once 
a  heathen,  now  in  his  reward — the  tireless  winner  of 
souls,  the  humble  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ — 
Bekali  Mendom. 


26 


Bekali,  a  Soul- Winner 

Melvin  Fraser 

is  constrained  to  ask,  Where  lay  the  power? 

It  was  not  in  a  rugged,  strong  body  with  the  ad¬ 
vantage  which  such  a  body  sometimes  gives,  but 
strength  was  perfected  through  a  rather  frail  bodily 
presence ;  nor  in  a  resonant,  commanding  voice,  for  his 
was  thin  and  soft.  His  unusual  power  lay  not  in  un¬ 
usual  mentality,  for  his  was  just  ordinary.  If  he  was 
eloquent,  the  eloquence  was  not  born  of  liberal  learn¬ 
ing  or  the  art  of  rhetoric.  For  he  was  ‘  ‘  unlearned  and 
ignorant,”  as  were  Peter  and  John,  and,  like  Paul,  he 
“came  not  with  excellency  of  speech,  or  of  wisdom.” 
We  are  persuaded  that  Bekali ’s  record  of  soul-winning 
power  was  rooted  in  other  soil — in  that  of  the  realm  of 
the  divine  Spirit,  and  of  natural  temperament — which 
the  Spirit  sanctifies  without  severing  from  a  conse¬ 
crated  man’s  individuality. 

Wherever  Bekali  went,  and  he  was  always  going, 
men  took  knowledge  that  he  had  been  with  Jesus. 
He  seemed  to  live  “in  the  Spirit”  seven  days  in  the 
week,  and  to  breathe  Pentecostal  air.  He  savored  of 
the  “upper  chamber.”  He  moved  about  in  heavenly 
vision  and  the  burning  desire  to  be  obedient  to  it. 
Being  thus  subdued  and  inspired,  he  yielded  himself, 
body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  the  all-absorbing  ministry 
of  reconciliation.  Bekali  gave  the  impression  of  hav¬ 
ing  definite  aim,  and  of  desiring  to  make  everything 
bend  that  way.  He  seemed  to  be  saying,  Give  me 
souls,  or  I  die,  and  he  did  die  in  the  midst  of  seeking 
them.  This  “one  thing  I  do.”  Thus  animated  and 
dominated,  of  course  he  got  wrhat  he  went  after — 

27 


souls.  All  he  had  or  was,  was  laid  under  tribute  to 
this,  as  he  plodded  on  day  by  day,  in  vital  fellowship 
with  Christ  and  led  by  His  Spirit. 

Bekali  searched  the  Scriptures,  and  loved  them, 
and  there  found  the  teaching,  reproof,  correction,  and 
instruction  which  is  in  righteousness,  as  the  remedy 
for  sin  and  its  numerous  brood.  His  own  Christ-like 
life  backed  his  effort  to  seek  and  save  the  lost.  In  his 
breast  was  the  gentle  love  of  John,  the  rugged  faith 
of  Paul,  and  the  whole  hope  of  the  Gospel,  and  these, 
shining  through  his  beaming,  black  eyes  and  winsome 
personality,  were  simply  irresistible  in  his  preaching 
and  daily  mingling  with  people.  Hardened  heathen 
could  not  help  liking  him.  He  gripped  everybody,  not 
for  himself,  but  that  he  might  point  them  to  the  Lamb 
of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

In  his  constant  quest  after  souls,  Bekali  was  a 
man  of  prayer,  in  the  inner  chamber  and  behind  the 
shut  door.  Do  you  wonder  that  our  Bekali  was  a 
winner  of  souls  ?  A  mantle  with  spiritual  strands  like 
those  in  the  shed  mantle  of  this  Ngumba  soul-winner 
is  ready  to  fall  upon  any  one  who  is  ready  to  receive  it. 

t 

Bekali ’s  first  experience  with  the  Gospel  was  after 
he  had  returned  from  a  little  “private  prayer  to 
Satan’’  as  he  called  it — doubtless  some  kind  of  fetish 
worship.  He  found  Ze  Zhwomena  in  his  town  teach¬ 
ing  the  people  to  sing  Gospel  songs  and  explaining 
the  Way  of  Life.  A  short  time  later,  Bekali  made 
a  public  confession  of  Christ.  The  women  refused  to 
cook  any  food  for  him  that  day,  which  was  only  one  of 
the  petty  persecutions  of  his  first  years  as  a  Christian. 

28 


After  his  first  sleep,  Bekali ’s  widow  says,  he 
would  often  leave  his  house,  cross  the  little  court¬ 
yard  to  the  Church  and  there  spend  long  hours  alone 
with  God,  praying  for  those  whom  he  was  trying  to 
win  for  Christ,  for  the  headmen  of  the  surrounding 
villages,  for  the  flock  of  Christians  he  was  shep¬ 
herding.  It  is  left  only  for  us  to  record  that  at  least 
four  very  prominent  headmen  in  his  district  became 
Christians  under  his  ministry. 

t 


When  Bekali  was  told  of  the  intended  visit  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hudnut  and  Mr.  Patterson  to  the  field 
in  1921,  he  was  greatly  pleased  that  they  loved  the 
Lord  and  His  work  enough  to  come  this  great  distance 
to  visit  the  work  among  the  black  people.  The  mis¬ 
sionary  in  charge  told  him  of  the  plan  to  have  the 
Christians  from  all  the  outposts  come  to  the  service 
at  MacLean  on  the  Sunday  that  they  should  be  there. 
He  said  “I’m  going  home  and  ask  God  to  send  three 
thousand  people  to  that  service.  ’  ’  This  seemed  a  large 
request  to  others,  but  it  was  granted  with  several 
extra  hundreds  for  good  measure. 

f 


Mvondo  Atyam,  one  of  our  most  promising  young 
candidates  for  ordination,  tells  of  the  time  when  he 
was  a  young  school  boy  and  frequently  accompanied 
Bekali  on  his  week-end  preaching  trips.  Upon  ap¬ 
proaching  a  town  Bekali  would  say  to  the  lad,  “Let’s 
turn  off  into  the  forest  now  and  pray  for  this  town 

29 


before  we  enter  it.”  As  they  lay  down  on  their  nar¬ 
row  pole  bed  for  their  night ’s  rest,  Bekali ’s  last  words 
were  wont  to  be,  ‘  ‘  Don ’t  forget !  The  one  who  wakens 
during  the  night  must  waken  the  other  that  we  may 
pray  for  the  people  who  will  hear  The  Words  of  God 
tomorrow.  ’  ’ 


30 


I 


[A  letter  from  Bekali,  translated  from  the  Bulu :] 


Mr.  S.  Kender  : 


(This  iras  at  one  time  Bekali's  \ 
idea  of  Miss  Mackenzie's  name.  ) 


I  was  left  behind  you  to  see  trouble, 
for  my  child  died.  Even  so,  the  Lord 
Jesus  has  the  child  now.  Where  the 
Father  is,  there  also  is  my  child.  Our 
dwelling  is  not  here,  it  is  with  the 
Father.  To  that  place  we  will  go  and 
stay.  This  word  helps  my  heart. 

Pray  the  Father  for  yourself.  Be  at 
Peace . 


When  shall  I  see  your  face? 


BEKALI  MENDOM 


Price  .10 


June,  1924. 


